I am turning right around to head out on another travel adventure. This time it’s Potsdam, Germany and Innsbruck, Austria with my sister Barbara. You know what that means—prepare my smallest tapestry frame for travel weaving. Besides the loom, I need necessary tools, warp thread, weft yarn, a cartoon, extra paper and pencil, book light and extra batteries, and a small bag in which to carry it all.
Fresno Canyon in Big Bend Ranch State Park is breathtaking. Steve captured the awe last week with his Canon Rebel T3i Digital SLR camera. My dream now is to capture the view in yarn. I am making a cartoon directly from a black-and-white print of the photograph.My Fårö yarn is housed in three baskets of an Elfa cart. I look at a photo image of Fresno Canyon on my iPhone to select colors to use for the tapestry.Selected colors of yarn are wrapped on labelled embroidery floss bobbins to put in the travel tapestry bag.Weft colors are sorted and placed in the plastic pockets of this craft holder I found at Hobby Lobby.Everything needed for a little 3 1/2″ x 6″ desert vista tapestry is being tucked away in travel bags.
After that, I can pack my clothes, etc. First things first.
(By the time you read this Barbara and I will be in Germany enjoying the food, listening to fine music, and scouting out fiber-y treasures whenever we get a chance.)
It occurs to me that I am unnecessarily doing something the hard way. Repeatedly. For every new project, I pull out my tape measure to find the right set of lease sticks. The tape measure also helps me select the temple needed for the current weaving width. No more! I do like my tape measure, but why am I measuring these things every time? Why not measure them once and label them?
Solution
Measure the lease sticks and write the length in centimeters and in inches on one stick of each pair, in pencil.
Use a wood burner to trace the pencil markings. (My husband Steve does this part for me.)
Wood burner is used to write the length measurement on the end of a lease stick. Centimeters and inches are indicated because I use metric or imperial units, depending on the project.
Thread a cord through one end of each pair of lease sticks, to keep pairs together. Hang the lease stick pairs with the measurements clearly visible.
Looped cord is threaded through the lease stick holes to provide an easy way to hang pairs together.
Paired lease sticks, ready for hanging.
Pairs of lease sticks hang beside my worktable in my weaving room. My ol’ Beka rigid heddle loom on the wall happens to provide just the right little hanging post for the measured lease sticks.
Look up the temple sizes on a website that sells them, and write the size range in centimeters and in inches on each temple, in pencil.
Use a wood burner to trace the pencil markings. (Steve, again.)
Range of temple widths is important information when I’m choosing a temple. Weaving width of a project must fit in that range.
Store the temples in a manner in which the marked measurements are easily seen.
No more trying different temples to find one that fits. Now I can look at the markings and select the correct temple the first time.
Now I have permanent at-a-glance measurements for each of these frequently-used tools!
There’s nothing quite like the beauty and functionality of a well-designed tool. The Swedish hand bobbin winder is one of those tools. A bobbin winder is essential. Steve made a superb electric bobbin winder for me that I normally use. But at our Texas hill country home, my Swedish bobbin winder comes into play. And it is a pleasure to use. I clamp the bobbin winder on a shelf in the cabinet where I store my few weaving supplies for this location. The tube of thread sits directly below on a simple homemade spool holder.
Swedish hand bobbin winder is set up in my supply cabinet. It is easy to remove and put away when I finish winding quills.
Narrow spindle on the bobbin winder is the size that works for winding quills.
For these color-and-weave cotton placemats, I am using double-bobbin shuttles. So, with the impressively simple Swedish hand bobbin winder I am winding matching pairs of colorful 8/2 cotton quills.
A tape measure is a weaver’s best friend. Think about how many ways the tape measure serves you. I have one at each loom. Always. And I have a few others scattered around, hanging up, and in bags. Because you never know when you might need to measure something.
Tape Measure Uses
Take measurements to determine the desired size of the finished cloth, such as window measurements for curtains, floor space for area rugs, or length of skirt tiers for skirt fabric.
Double check the width of the warp after it is pre-sleyed.
Check the width of the warp on the back tie-on bar.
Center the reed in the beater for beaming the warp by measuring the distance from the warp in the reed to the outside edge of the beater on both sides.
Find the starting point to sley the reed by measuring half of the warp width outwards from the center of the reed.
Double check the width of the warp in the reed after it is sleyed.
Center the reed in the beater for weaving.
Adjust to the correct width of the warp on the front tie-on bar after the warp is tied on.
Mark the measured weaving length on twill tape or ribbon to use as a weaving length guide.
Measure the distance between pieces that require unwoven warp, such as for fringe, or for tying knots between rag rugs.
Measure the distance from the first shaft (nearest the back of the loom) to the back tie-on bar (especially when you are hoping there is enough warp left to finish a symmetrical pattern).
Measure the width and length of fabric that has been wet finished, dried, and pressed.
Measure your pleasure at the loom. Immeasurable!
Tape measure with imperial and metric units, both of which I use regularly. Metal ends have been removed from the tape to clearly see the tape’s markings, and because I slip the tape into a dent of the reed when I am marking the spot to start sleying.
Glimåkra Ideal loom, with tape measure in its usual place hanging on the end of the loom bench.
Glimåkra Standard loom, with tape measure ready for the next measuring task.
Tape measure hanging over the back beam on the Texas hill country loom while pre-sleying the reed and positioning things to prepare for beaming the warp.
Extra-long tape measure hangs on the peg strip above my work table.
Occasionally, I borrow Steve’s metal carpenter’s tape measure from his wood carving bench.
Compact retractible sewing tape measure rides in my travel tapestry bag. It has imperial and metric units.
No purse is complete without a tape measure, right? (A tape measure can outlive the business it promotes.)
What have I missed? Can you think of other ways your tape measure comes in handy?
Even though there are dozens of needles in and around my weaving and sewing spaces, nine stand out from the rest. These go-to needles have earned special favor. As essential tools, these needles have specific holders and permanent homes.
Sharp needles: hand-hemming, hand-sewing, stitching on labels, and stitching a tapestry to a linen mat for mounting (curved needle)
HOLDER: Pincushion I made in 1980
HOME: Sewing supply closet, “Needles and Pins” drawer
Blunt tapestry needles, small and medium: hemstitching, stitching a thread mark to the right side of the fabric, sewing in tapestry weft tails, finishing work—needle-weaving for corrections and repairs
HOLDER: Remnant of cotton handwoven plain weave fabric
HOME: Loom-side cart, top drawer
Steve sanded and rounded the tips of the needles to make them blunt. A needle with a rounded tip won’t pierce and split the threads.
Blunt tapestry needles, large: hemstitching, hand-hemming rugs, weaving small tapestries
HOLDER: Felted inkle-woven tape
HOME: cutting/work table, Grandma’s old sewing tin
Sacking needles: pulling rag rug warpends out of scrap weft, threading warp ends back into a wool rug (I did this…once)
HOLDER: straw-woven pouch from a trip to The Philippines
HOME: weaving supply closet, top drawer on the left
May you find the needle you need when you need a needle.
